diff --git a/lib/stdio.js b/lib/stdio.js
index d9f5458b4d..3fcf6272d7 100644
--- a/lib/stdio.js
+++ b/lib/stdio.js
@@ -42,20 +42,21 @@ const stdio = opts => {
 
 module.exports = stdio;
 
+// `ipc` is pushed unless it is already present
 module.exports.node = opts => {
-	const defaultOption = 'pipe';
+	const stdioOption = stdio(opts);
 
-	let stdioOption = stdio(opts || {stdio: defaultOption});
+	if (stdioOption === 'ipc') {
+		return 'ipc';
+	}
 
-	if (typeof stdioOption === 'string') {
-		stdioOption = [...new Array(3)].fill(stdioOption);
-	} else if (Array.isArray(stdioOption)) {
-		stdioOption = stdioOption.map((channel = defaultOption) => channel);
+	if (stdioOption === undefined || typeof stdioOption === 'string') {
+		return [stdioOption, stdioOption, stdioOption, 'ipc'];
 	}
 
-	if (!stdioOption.includes('ipc')) {
-		stdioOption.push('ipc');
+	if (stdioOption.includes('ipc')) {
+		return stdioOption;
 	}
 
-	return stdioOption;
+	return [...stdioOption, 'ipc'];
 };
diff --git a/test/stdio.js b/test/stdio.js
index a9ccb03256..36dc2fdc86 100644
--- a/test/stdio.js
+++ b/test/stdio.js
@@ -59,14 +59,17 @@ test(stdioMacro, {stdin: 'inherit', stdio: [undefined, 'pipe']}, new Error('It\'
 
 const forkMacro = createMacro(stdio.node);
 
-test(forkMacro, undefined, ['pipe', 'pipe', 'pipe', 'ipc']);
+test(forkMacro, undefined, [undefined, undefined, undefined, 'ipc']);
 test(forkMacro, {stdio: 'ignore'}, ['ignore', 'ignore', 'ignore', 'ipc']);
+test(forkMacro, {stdio: 'ipc'}, 'ipc');
 test(forkMacro, {stdio: [0, 1, 2]}, [0, 1, 2, 'ipc']);
 test(forkMacro, {stdio: [0, 1, 2, 3]}, [0, 1, 2, 3, 'ipc']);
 test(forkMacro, {stdio: [0, 1, 2, 'ipc']}, [0, 1, 2, 'ipc']);
 
-test(forkMacro, {stdout: 'ignore'}, ['pipe', 'ignore', 'pipe', 'ipc']);
-test(forkMacro, {stdout: 'ignore', stderr: 'ignore'}, ['pipe', 'ignore', 'ignore', 'ipc']);
+test(forkMacro, {stdio: [0, 1, undefined]}, [0, 1, undefined, 'ipc']);
+test(forkMacro, {stdio: [0, 1, 2, undefined]}, [0, 1, 2, undefined, 'ipc']);
+test(forkMacro, {stdout: 'ignore'}, [undefined, 'ignore', undefined, 'ipc']);
+test(forkMacro, {stdout: 'ignore', stderr: 'ignore'}, [undefined, 'ignore', 'ignore', 'ipc']);
 
 test(forkMacro, {stdio: {foo: 'bar'}}, new TypeError('Expected `stdio` to be of type `string` or `Array`, got `object`'));
 test(forkMacro, {stdin: 'inherit', stdio: 'pipe'}, new Error('It\'s not possible to provide `stdio` in combination with one of `stdin`, `stdout`, `stderr`'));